Midnight Oil
by DiscordianSamba
Summary: Seeing Heiji awake at this hour wasn't that unusual of a sight.


**AN** : Based on a prompt that I got on tumblr, that amounted to Heikazu + insomnia. How many times will I dabble with the subject of Heiji's dreams before I am satisfied, you ask? A silly question, as the answer is that I will never be satisfied. Anyways, as always, thanks for reading, and I hope you all enjoy!

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 **Midnight Oil**

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"Can't sleep?"

The fact that he hadn't sensed her approach, in spite of the rather creaky floorboards of the inn, was evidence enough of just how lost in thought he had been. For a moment, it seemed as if he was trying to determine whether or not she was actually real, and only relaxed once he did.

"Somethin' like that." Heiji told her, what she knew was a forced smile on his face. She couldn't see them underneath the dim lighting of the inn's lobby, but she didn't need to, to know that there were bags underneath his eyes. She had known him long enough to know when he was lying.

Heaving a slight sigh, Kazuha felt her shoulders slump. She had been expecting like this when she had spotted him out of the corner of her eye, but as usual, he wasn't honest about this sort of thing. In reality, she knew that it was just because it was hard for him to talk about, but really, after all this time she would have thought that he could be a bit more open with her about this sort of thing.

She had almost missed him, really, in the dark of the inn's lobby. If she hadn't caught that bit of movement when she was retrieving her juice can from the vending machine, she probably would have passed right by him. But now that she had, there was no way she could leave him alone.

He wasn't a child anymore, but there were some things that scared even adults. And he was hardly that yet, either.

Taking a seat next to him on the couch, Kazuha felt him stir next to her, a ripple running through him. Pressing the second can of juice that she had bought, the one she had gotten after she had spotted him, to his cheek, she gave him a bright smile, hoping that it would banish away some of the darkness.

"Here, this one's fer ya." She told him, strangely feeling more relaxed as his expression briefly changed into a glare. Rather than that pensive, almost frightened expression, this one suited him much better. "So? Do ya want ta talk about it?"

"I don't know what ya mean." Heiji told her, taking the can from her, cracking it open. "I just can't fall asleep, that's all."

"Can't fall _back_ asleep, more like it." Kazuha commented, opening up her own can of juice, taking a long sip from it before she continued. "How long do ya think I've known ya, Heiji, that I can't tell when the reason fer ya bein' up so late is a nightmare?"

There was a long silence then, the only sound between them the faint cry of cicadas from outside. Out there, they must have been nearly deafening, but in here, it was almost strangely peaceful. Carefully holding her can of juice in her hands, Kazuha patiently waited for the reply that she knew would eventually come. When it came to things like this, there was no need to rush him.

With a click of his tongue, Heiji eventually did break the silence, turning his gaze away from her. "Too damn long, if ya can see through me that easily."

"It's not really that hard." Kazuha teased. "Yer pretty easy ta read, Heiji."

"Shut up." Shooting her a bit of a sour look, Heiji let out a long sigh, slumping back further against the couch, his can of juice loosely dangling from one hand. "Fine. I _might_ have had a nightmare."

"I thought so." Closing her eyes, Kazuha pulled up her legs, so that her toes curled over the edge of the couch. "Would it help if I stayed here?"

There was another long pause of silence there, but this wasn't one that Kazuha needed to wait for an answer for. She already knew what it was, even without him having to say anything- or rather, it was because she already knew that he wouldn't give her a real reply that she had learned to read between the lines that weren't there. It was written in the way that he didn't protest when she scooted a bit closer to him, in the way a bit of tension seemed to wash from his shoulders at her question.

He really was too easy to read.

Even though she knew the inn was filled with other guests, including her own friends, strangely enough, in the moment, she found herself completely forgetting about them. It gotten quiet, even the sound of the cicadas melting away, as if the world had shrunken down to just the two of them.

It was peaceful, but she knew that of the two of them, she was the only one at peace.

"Was it one of _those_?" Usually, when Heiji was involved, she couldn't help but be a bit loud, but right now, her voice was rather quiet, just loud enough for him to hear.

"...I don't know." Heiji finally admitted. She didn't have to look up to know that his gaze wasn't on her, but somewhere far away. "That's the trouble."

"Ya've been havin' more of them, lately." Kazuha couldn't help but observe, finding her own gaze settling on his profile. As she thought, what he was looking at was something that she couldn't begin to see- something that might or might not actually exist. He might mock a lot of things, but his dreams were one thing that he always took seriously.

"Yeah." Closing his eyes, Heiji let out a long breath. By just saying that much, it felt as if he had gotten a load off of his chest. As loathe as he was to admit it sometimes, talking about them really did seem to help. "If it's gettin' stronger, that would be a serious pain."

"Let's hope not." Kazuha said simply, carefully resting her head against his shoulder. At that, she felt his gaze flicker down towards her, an edge of softness in his eyes that almost made her want to look up at him. But she already knew that the moment she did, he would look away again. "Do ya wanna talk about it?"

"Ya asked me that before already." Heiji pointed out. "But even if ya ask me that, there isn't much ta talk about. It was pretty vague."

"It that why yer afraid ta got ta sleep again?" Kazuha asked.

"Yeah." Normally, that would be the sort of thing he would deny- he wasn't the type to quiver in fear from a bad dream. Or at the very least, not any longer. "If I fall asleep, I'll only see it again, fer sure. Probably tomorrow night, an' the night after that, if I'm unlucky."

"Well, maybe if that happens, I'll at least get a clear picture of it." Heiji noted. "If I can prevent it, that would be fer the best, right?"

"I thought ya said ya didn't know if it was one or not." Kazuha said.

"I don't. But I'd rather not take my chances." Heiji said, his gaze trailing up towards the ceiling, fixing itself there. As he watched the faint patterns on the wood panels shape themselves into faces, he could only think about how knowing the cause of the phenomena apparently did nothing to actually prevent it from happening.

The cause of his dreams, on the other hand, was probably something he would never know. The only thing he knew was that it was better to pay attention to them than not. Learning that had been a rather unpleasant experience, and one that he didn't care to repeat.

"Ya don't really need ta stay here ya know, Kazuha." Dropping his gaze from the ceiling, Heiji found it almost naturally falling back towards her. "If Neechan wakes up an' finds ya missin', she'll be worried, right?"

"It's fine." Kazuha said. "Ran-chan probably won't wake up until morning anyways. I should say the same thing about you an' Conan-kun, actually."

"It's probably fine." Heiji said. "Once he finally falls asleep, it can actually be pretty hard ta wake him. He didn't even budge when I left. But it's fine. One sleepless night won't kill me. It's not like this is the first time."

"Then, one sleepless night won't kill me either." Kazuha stated. "I couldn't sleep anyways."

"So ya say that, but in the end, ya always end up fallin' asleep anyways." Heiji noted, a faint hint of a grin finally appearing on his face. "Carryin' ya back ta yer futon after that is always such a pain, too. Yer a bit heavy, Kazuha."

"Maybe yer just weak?" Kazuha quipped.

"Listen, just because not everyone is as strong as Neechan is, doesn't make them weak." Heiji noted. "I'm pretty sure she could carry the both of us, if she really tried."

"That I don't doubt." Kazuha said, letting out a faint laugh. "Then, in that case, I'll be countin' on ya ta carry me back ta bed _if_ I fall asleep."

"What do ya mean _if_?" Heiji asked. "With ya, it's a matter of _when_."

"Well, we'll just see about that."


End file.
